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| Iraq |
| Operation Panther Backroads |
| 2003-12-15 |
| During the past 24 hours, the 82nd Airborne Division and subordinate units conducted 25 tactical checkpoints and eight cordon and searches. Units also performed 169 patrols, including 13 joint patrols with the Iraqi Border Guard and Iraqi police. These operations resulted in the killing of three and capture of 16 enemy personnel while suffering one U.S. death. In 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division’s areas of responsibility, paratroopers began Operation Panther Backroads – an operation to interdict anti-coalition and smuggling activities in order to deny enemy forces freedom of movement. Units throughout the Task Force participated in the establishment of 25 tactical checkpoints and the execution of eight cordon and searches. The brigade searched 1351 vehicles and confiscated 15 AK-47s, two Enfield rifles, and other miscellaneous weapons and ammunition. The operation was successful and resulted in the capture of 13 enemy personnel. Paratroopers on a patrol were engaged by small arms fire from four enemy personnel. The group returned fire, killing two enemy personnel and wounding two others. Although one of the wounded enemy personnel evaded capture, the patrol captured the other wounded individual and confiscated four AK-47’s. No friendly forces were injured during the engagement. In addition, a reconnaissance engaged four armed enemy personnel northeast of Fallujah with small arms fire killing one. The remaining enemy personnel fled into a nearby house that was later searched by U.S. forces. The search resulted in the capture of four Iraqi males as well as the confiscation of two AK-47s, seven bolt-action rifles, and various kinds of ammunition. In 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division’s area of responsibility, a patrol was ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and small arms fire near Ar Ramadi. The unit returned fire killing one enemy personnel and recovered a RPG launcher with ammunition. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #9 Nazi Tank? It's named after an US urban political movement. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-15 1:58:32 PM |
| #8 Who's gonna be the first to suggest that "Operation Panther" is named after a NAZI tank? _____borgboy sez inquiring minds want to know about them thar NAZI links... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2003-12-15 1:08:30 PM |
| #7 These Enfield may just be hand me downs a farmer would carry in the back of his truck to protect against varmits, human and otherwise. May be nothing significant to this. |
| Posted by: john 2003-12-15 12:44:35 PM |
| #6 Rifles' only as good as the mutt carrying it. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2003-12-15 12:08:07 PM |
| #5 That reference to Enfield rifles could also be to Enfield L70 Individual Weapons. Hard to believe that the bad guys haven't pilfered a few off the Brits in Basra. Agree with the commenters above on the virtues of the SMLE--one of the greatest of the bolt-action rifles. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-12-15 10:14:50 AM |
| #4 They are good but at short range they don't stantd at chance against assault rifles and at long range they require better marksmanship than found in ME. In addition these are not only obsolete: the physical rifles are ooold so you can bet they have lost their precision (I also have my doubts about Iraqui maintenance) and that they are short on spare parts. |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-12-15 10:07:47 AM |
| #3 Dont underestimate the SMLE (Small Magazine Lee Enfield). If you want to reach out and touch someone, the SMLE is a great tool for that - steady, decent powered round, and deadly accurate in the hands of a trained marksman. A lto better then the typical loose machined AK action & barrle, and the 7.62x39 AK round. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-12-15 10:02:35 AM |
| #2 Yeah, but they're gooood rifles. I'd rather have an Enfield than an A.K. -- especially if my guess is right and they're talking about the Lee-Enfield Mark III, which was made in the millions and used all over the British Empire. Great gun, shoots .30 caliber (.303 British service, 60K dead Russians in Afghanistan can't be wrong), and its bolt-action is an absolute joy to work. Smooth, smooth, smooth, to quote Eugene Jerome. (Though he was talking about something else...) I think it was Clayton Cramer who wrote a while back about a re-enactor he knew who had a very nice Brown Bess musket. Nothing odd about that -- except it had been captured by an American G.I., in Vietnam. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-15 9:42:23 AM |
| #1 Did you notice? The Saddamites are down to using Enfield rifles (the standard British rifle in 1942). Oooold rifles manufactured 60 years ago. |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-12-15 8:57:40 AM |